Cockaigne

Definition

Theater

An imaginary country of laziness and luxury, also known asLubberland. The concept dates back to the early Middle Ages.In this shirkers' paradise salaries are paid for sleeping, riversflow with wine, houses are made of cake and sugar, buttered birdsfall from the sky, and pigs run around with forks already inserted.Cockaigne has provided themes for European folk dramas and carnivals,and many playwrights have mentioned it. In Jonson's BartholomewFair (1614), for instance, one character asks another how sheexpects to find a pig without looking for it: "Will it run offo' the spit into our mouths, think you? As in Lubber-land?"